I mean, one of them, from the look of things, unless the jumpin’ guy is a redesign of the caped guy from last time. Jimmy Palmiotti inks this one solo. We open on the guys blowing themselves up last issue, then move to a lab where The Foreigner, last seen around here just being introduced in TAC 116, oversees scientists about to do their thing to some new goons.
Not the brightest goons. Cut to Spider-Man creeping up on Betty’s place, thinking about how The Foreigner was responsible for her husband’s death, and finding her dressed like a lady Rambo.
Ludicrous. Especially given how all this “Betty-as-vigilante” stuff will be dropped almost immediately. At any rate, Spider-Man follows her on her quest, all the way to New Jersey, where she puts a gun in security guard’s face to get into a corporate building that is apparently a front for The Foreigner. As she ties him up and runs inside, Spidey follows. And then we see the guard was The Foreigner wearing a mask, easily freeing himself and telling his goons the game is afoot. This comic is very goofy. As Betty wonders if she’s gone too far, Spider-Man flashes back to their entire history together really, really fast for the reader. Lost in her thoughts, Betty wonders at the lack of guards in her way, and then…
The reek of the 90s on this! Spidey is kicked in the chest by “Swift-1,” the guy on the cover, I guess a 3rd variety of Foreigner goon. They fight around a bit until Spider-Man’s web is cut by a pulse beam very much like the ones from last issue for a 2nd time.
The idea that they’re, I dunno, brainwashing/genetically manipulating goons is whatever, but the fact that all the “Pulse” models have to have the same hair is very funny. Spidey manages to lower Betty out a window against her wishes as he’s attacked by Swift, who pummels him through the air without worrying about surviving. Spidey gets a web out and swings them to the ground only for “Silence” to chuck a knife into “Swift,” killing him without a care. Spidey leaps onto Silence just as Pulse lines up a shot.
Foreigner reveals there’s a price on Spider-Man’s head, and he was using Betty to get to him. Then, as “Warfare” begins the now customary self-destruct, Foreigner promises Spidey he’ll see “The Death Squad” again, and also makes one casual reference before the place goes up.
Was Ned The Hobgoblin? Was that misdirect? Seems like a 50/50 chance.